Underdogs, Stuffed Ducks, and Fallen Tigers

Prior to the NCAA tournament, I had this wonderful idea to have my six-month-old daughter Grace pick one of my brackets. I figured that this would be a fun, if not completely original, take on March Madness.

I had it all planned out. I would take Grace’s Snoopy doll and have that represent the lower seed (a play on the “underdog” moniker), then take her stuffed duck (because it was on top of the toy box) and have that represent the higher seed. That plan lasted about five minutes before Grace realized it was more fun to stare at the duck and Snoopy than to reach out for either animal, which was going to be my clue on her choice for that game.

Going to Plan B, I picked up two of her favorite rings, which seemed to work for a while. The little one made it all the way through the South Region before her toes took precedent over the rings. Rather than press my luck, I decided that I would pick the remaining three brackets.

So with the opening weekend over and done, I thought I’d reveal how the Grace Monster did in her first NCAA bracket. Through 12 games in the South Region, Grace has had her highs and lows. She went 6-2 in the first eight games, but only has one team left in the Sweet 16, third seeded Baylor.

The two games she missed in the first round were Iowa State beating Connecticut and Colorado upsetting UNLV.  Her big win came in the 2/15 match-up, where she picked Duke to fall to Lehigh, who was an 11 and a half point underdog. I fully realize that the pick was just a fluke, but I was still awfully proud of my daughter for seeing through the overhyped Blue Devils in favor of the Mountain Hawks. Unfortunately Lehigh’s run came to an end in the next round, spoiling Grace’s hopes of another upset with a win over Xavier.

Her daddy, on the other hand, has done okay in the other three regions, but not fantastic. All told, we are 32-of-48 so far, but our hopes of finishing at the top of the standings in our group went down the tubes with the other big upset of the tournament. Partial in tribute to my wonderful wife Mary who attended the University of Missouri, and partial because I thought they were a good team, I had Mizzou as my national champion.

In my bracket, the Tigers would take on their hated rival, the Kansas Jayhawks, in the championship game in what would be the final meeting between the two teams for a while, since Mizzou is jumping ship to the SEC. But that was not meant to be as Norfolk State (which is actually not a state at all) defeated my wife’s alma mater in another 2/15 match-up to end their national title hopes and my chance at a winning bracket.

In reality, I don’t really care whether I finish first or 50th in a bracket pool. The tournament has always been one of my favorite sporting events of the year, regardless of how my bracket or my favorite team does, not that I’ve had much to cheer for in that regard (looking at you University of Illinois). That love of the tournament has grown over the last few years as I get the chance to watch the games with Mary, who roots for the underdog without fail, unless they are playing her Tigers. And as Grace continues to get bigger, I can’t wait watch the games and fill out our brackets as a family. Who knows, maybe she’ll even pull another Lehigh out of her sleeve someday.